Going to London and coming back to Malaysia

Just returned from a 4 week work stint in London, England. I had a really rough and frantic time preparing for the trip. After 4 years of doing this, I had hoped rushed arrangements like these would be a thing of the past ^.^ which just goes to show how much further there is to grow ho ho ho. Left Malaysia on Jan 21st

This is my first trip to this particular client's locale in London. My company had rented an apartment unit in Borough, which is 15 mins walk from London Bridge. There is a well equipped kitchen with 2 ovens, toaster, stove, cooker hood, rice cooker and a gigantic fridge. So this translates to lots of spaghetti cooking for myself. Fresh foodstuffs are quite cheap (with company allowance... don't convert! don't convert!). So it is not surprising to find myself at the Sainsbury's or grocery shop every other day of the week. There is also a TV with some cable channels. Mostly british programs though, with some american ones.

Spent CNY in London. The main festivities happen on the first saturday of CNY. So me and my colleague walked to the Strand to watch the CNY parade. It was quite lively, with a lot of costumes. There were some good music and dances. Some were just people dressed in chinese costumes that just walked past in ho-hum fashion. There were so many people coming down to watch the parade. Mostly whites. And here's where you a get the real feeling of just how populous London is. Everywhere as far as the eye can see, thousands and thousands of people.

The parade procession down The Strand. They had lion dancing too!

Happy CNY from Kung Fu Panda movie

Some locals dressed up their pets. Ain't this one adorable?

On the other weekends, I did manage to get around town. Looked up all the touristy places once more. St Paul's cathedral, Tower of London, Buckingha Palace, Oxford and Regent street, Westminster, London Eye, took a cruise down River Thames, visited some museums... All in all, took in a lot of sights. Went for Lion King theatre musical at Lyceum Theatre too. Thanks Liz for arranging this. Really enjoyed the creative show. Anyone who has a chance to catch it, make sure you do. You should not miss the oppurtunity no matter what!

St Jack at St Paul's. Just kidding :P




Big Ben and Skinny Jack

Even took a trip to Kent one weekend. This was to visit Leeds Castle. Took a train from London Victoria to Bearsted station, then took the shuttle. It was bitterly cold the day I did the trip, and I really felt it. Here, the castle's resident dragon attempts to warm me up with its fiery breath.

Oh mighty dragon, I'm not as tasty as you think

Met up with my old schoolmate Ruth one weekend. Had lunch together, and also went to Hillsong church together at Dominion Theatre, Tottenham Court road. It is my first visit to Hillsong, and it was fantastic. They were going to do a DVD recording of the worship session the week after I went. Unfortunate that I missed my 2 seconds of fame moment. The worship was so lively and the message was very relevant to the youth audience.

Met my cousin Joseph, wife Maki and brother Andrew for dinner this week too. Had an amazing meal at Galvin, Baker Street which serves frech food. They told me of their Great Atlantic Race. adventures. They are greatly tanned and sport lots of facial hair now. But they seemed to have a great time, and I salute their achievement. It is quite an amazing feat if you think of it. Go see the site I linked above to understand the enormity of the race. Wish you guys best of luck for the next great adventure.

On my journey back to Malaysia on Feb 20, the worst of worst things happened. I got sick. Developed a fever on the plane. If that's not enough, I had the noisiest fellow passenger in the world. He was having a coughing fit, and he was so loud. He coughed every 5 minutes. I took 6 panadols during the flight to control my fever and chills.

When I thoughr my nightmare was over, things got spicier. The captain of Malaysia Airlnes flight MH001 on Feb 20 from London Heathrow to KLIA decided that for the last 10 minutes of the flight, he would do something really cheeky. He descended the aircraft and changed the cabin presure so fast that I had a migraine. Not a headache, but a migraine. The kind where you hurt so much, you puke and you can't stand up. I felt like I was going to have a stroke due to the pressure in my head. I needed a wheelchair when we landed. And 3 other passengers too needed wheelchair assistance.

So what's the first thing I did when I arrived? On my taxi ride back to my house, I puked.

Then after collapsing into my bed in my house, I developed my fever again. And the icing on the cake is I developed a cough too, which I'm certain was courtesy of my fellow flight mate in MH001.

Besides the very uncomfrotable return to Malaysia, I am glad to have had the chance to visit London again. Goodbye London, I had a great time. It would be great to see London in a season other than winter, which is the only season I've seen from all my visits so far!